All Rise...

The Charge

5 teachers. 180 Days. Our Children's Future.

Opening Statement

The First Year is a valuable documentary because it is willing to
closely examine the serious issues facing teachers and the school system in
North America. It originally aired on PBS, and is now available on DVD thanks to
New Video.

Facts of the Case

The First Year attempts to analyze the current shortage of teachers by
looking at the situations faced by young teachers in urban schools throughout
the United States. It follows five teachers through their struggles, successes,
and failures in order to encourage awareness and promote discussion of social
issues that affect the schools in North America.

The Evidence

Director Davis Guggenheim does an excellent job of handling the issues that
he is interested in during the short length of this documentary. It is not a
subtle film, but he is calling us to pay attention to what is happening in our
schools, and he has found some excellent subjects to do so with. Like many
documentaries, it is completely biased, but since it is an impossible thing to
avoid completely, I have respect for the way he goes right for the point he
wants to make.

This film does not show what it's like for a first year teacher in a school
for children of affluent families. Instead, it follows five teachers in their
situations at a variety of schools in urban California. The children range from
kindergarten to grade eleven, though, so it shows the issues that must be dealt
with at various stages in the education process.

There are many incredible moments in The First Year. Each of the
teachers has a particular student or situation that is especially troublesome
during the year, and Guggenheim chose to spend enough time on these moments to
develop these situations with depth and meaning. With so much going on, it would
have been easy to gloss over these moments to get an overview of the situation
of these schools, but the focus on the individual is one of the key points of
the film. Each student and problem is different, and must be handled
differently. When there are 38 students in your class, though, how can you
possibly do what's needed in each of these situations?

Many of the most touching moments focus on the way the teachers deal with
the students directly. One of the best of these is a conference with
Geneviève DeBose, one of the teachers, a troubled boy, and his father. The
camera captures every human element of the scene perfectly: the disappointment
and love of the father, the shame of the son, and the embarrassment and caring
of the teacher.

A number of other great moments happen when the teachers are alone. At one
point, Maurice Rabb returns to his hometown, and visits a schoolyard there. The
school has a full playground, surrounded by well-kept grass. This is a stark
contrast from the school that he teaches at, where the playground consists of a
fenced-in concrete yard. He cries as he watches the children playing, as he
turns to the camera and says, "These kids look like my kids." It's a
scene that highlights the differences between schools in suburbia and the inner
city schools, but it does so without tossing up statistics, explaining, or
preaching.

I was amazed by how natural the subjects were, considering that they had a
camera in their faces during these personal and painful moments. The five
teachers are especially good, only acknowledging the camera when they are
speaking directly to it. This is also only possible due to the excellent camera
work and editing by Davis Guggenheim. He is willing to approach many fascinating
and controversial issues, without ever being preachy. His opinion is clear from
the first frame, but it never feels forced. School violence is dealt with in the
presentation about gangs in Nate Monley's grade five class, Joy Kraft-Watts
shows her students videos dealing with homosexuality, and Georgene Acosta helps
her ESL students talk to city council to get more funding for their program.

Guggenheim also manages to juggle perfectly the frightening truth about the
state of the inner city schools and the hope that is given to these students by
caring and passionate teachers. The situation is indeed grim, but these teachers
have a tremendous impact on the lives of their students. It is through teachers
like this that the situation in these schools will be turned around.

Considering its television origins, the The First Year looks and
sounds quite good. It is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen, and the picture
is quite acceptable. Because it is so new, there is no reason that they could
have not made an anamorphic transfer for the disc, however. The colors are rich
and accurate, but the detail suffers. This is forgivable in the end, however,
since it was all shot with natural light with a handheld camera.

The sound is quite excellent considering the way the footage has been
filmed. The dialogue is always clear, even in scenes when several people are
talking.

The disc is surprisingly well stocked with extras. The most significant
extra is Teach, a 35-minute short film that uses the footage from The
First Year to create a shorter, more upbeat promotional video for potential
teachers. I was expecting Teach to be a sappy, shallow version of the
full film, and I was pleasantly surprised. While the issues are less complex, it
is still willing to address many of the troubles facing teachers in their first
few years. It is presented in full frame, and would make an excellent video to
show in high school or college classrooms.

There is a commentary track on The First Year featuring the five
teachers. It is a good track, adding insight and additional stories to further
describe their experiences. They keep mostly on track, and their banter is
occasionally entertaining as well as informative. Also useful is an epilogue,
which explains where these teachers have gone now, and what has happened to many
of the students that were focused on in the film. A profile of each teacher is
also included, which is not a profile as much as a summary of their
accomplishments during the first year of teaching.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

There are several minor problems that prevent The First Year from
being what it could be. Although Guggenheim makes a point of dealing with a wide
range of populations and issues, all of the students that are focused on through
the year are boys. While I believe that most problem students are probably male,
it would have been interesting to explore some of the issues that are unique to
the girls in our school system.

Another problem is that the film is simply too short. Eighty minutes is not
enough time to accomplish what Guggenheim attempts to do, and while it is a good
documentary, the DVD format would allow for a much extended look at the first
year of these five teachers. With the amount of footage that was filmed to make
this project, it would have been nice to have access to more on this disc.

The only technical complaint I have about the disc (aside from the
non-anamorphic video) is the lack of subtitles. The First Year deals with
issues of immigrant communities that do not understand English, as well as
students with disabilities. These audiences should not be excluded from the
issues that are addressed in this film.

Closing Statement

Minor complaints aside, The First Year is an excellent documentary
that should be required viewing for students, parents, and anyone considering a
career in teaching. It has been provided to us on a great disc, so go check it
out.

The Verdict

Not guilty. Guggenheim has done an admirable job in dealing with the issues
in the American school system, and left this judge wanting more.